ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  EXTRACTS. 
249 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  EXTRACTS. 
By  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Groves. 
I  am  inclined  to  balieve  that  some  at  least  of  the  views  ex- 
pressed by  our  President  in  a  paper  before  the  meeting  of 
November  6,  1861,  will,  notwithstanding  the  high  authority  of 
their  author,  be  received  by  Pharmaceutists  generally  with 
diffidence,  if  not  entire  discredit. 
For  one,  I  am  not  disposed  to  admit  that  wholesale  drug- 
gists, either  invariably,  or,  as  a  general  rule,  employ  the  process 
"  which  gives  the  best  result  in  the  most  direct  manner,"  unless 
indeed  by  the  k<  best  result "  is  to  be  understood  the  best  in  a 
commercial  sense. 
Nevertheless  their  experience  is  doubtless  of  great  value  to 
us  on  many  points,  though  the  preparation  of  "Eclectic"  medi- 
cines may  not  be  one  of  them. 
I  am  not  a  large  manufacturer,  but  a  very  small  one,  and 
my  experience  is  limited  to  a  few  plants  that  grow  in  my 
neighborhood,  being  too  far  from  Covent  Garden  to  avail  myself 
of  its  treasures,  without  risk  of  their  loss  or  deterioration. 
The  plant  I  have  more  especially  worked  is  the  Hyoscyamus 
niger,  which  is  most  years  obtainable  in  considerable  quantity 
and  great  perfection  from  the  rocky  soils  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
sea,  or  from  the  the  sea-cliffs  themselves.  I  have  it  gathered 
when  in  full  flower,  and  so  soon  as  possible  after  strip  the 
leaves  and  tender  summits  of  the  stalks  from  it,  bruise  them  in 
a  marble  mortar,  adding  a  little  water  should  the  mass  not  be 
sufficiently  pulpy,  express  and  evaporate  by  steam  bath,  without 
further  treatment  of  any  kind.  The  extract  of  Henbane,  so  pre- 
pared, I  have  never  observed  show  a  symptom  of  mouldiness,  and 
have  frequently  kept  it  without  extra  precaution  for  two  or  three 
years,  though  the  extract  of  Conium  made  in  the  same  manner 
keeps  badly. 
Its  narcotic  smell  and  bitter  taste  are  very  striking  ;  indeed 
so  much  do  I  prefer  it  to  any  I  can  buy,  that  I  always  make  as 
much  as  I  can,  to  be  on  the  safe  side  in  case  of  an  accidental 
dearth  of  the  plant. 
I  have  always  attributed  the  comparative  inferiority  of  the 
purchased  extracts  to  two  causes  :  first,  the  use  of  the  whole 
